Hero (Dragon Quest V)
The Hero is the main character of Dragon Quest V. Like all protagonists in the ''Dragon Quest'' series, the player provides him with a name of his or her choosing. Appearance and Personality The Hero of Dragon Quest V is regularly depicted in a purple turban and shroud with a white tunic underneath, an oaken staff held in his right arm or left in the Ds version. Like his father, he has jet black long hair which he keeps at all times in a ponytail. It is often commented along the game that he has the same eyes as his mother, along with her abbility to communicate with monsters. The hero was just 6 years old in the first arc of the game, 16 years old in the beginning of the second arc due to the 10 year time skip. Interestingly, he turned 20 by the end of second arc of the story because it was revealed that 20 years had passed since the Hero's mother had been abducted. Then he was turned to stone for 8 years, meaning he is 28 years old but with a 20 year old physical body. Phisically, he his rather tall with a muscular build, a stark contrast to when he was younger, as he was rather small (smaller then Bianca) and appeared quite frail. Though the Hero is a silent protagonist (as is tradition in Dragon Quest games) he appears to have some semblance of a personality as ilustrated in in-game dialogue with party members and his own family. The Hero is stoic and displays a strong silence sense of dignity in his endevours. He is fully devoted to his relationships, be it his family or his friends, staying with Prince Harry for the 10 long years they were forced into slavery but not once did he resent the young Prince for what happened to his father. As a husband he is extremly devoted to his wife, often going out of his way to keep her safe during his quest (even when in Debora's case, she treats him more like a slave then a husband) going as far as dropping all his responsibilities to his kingdom to go rescue his wife after she was kidnapped by Kon the Knight despite being advised not to do so alone. As a father, the Hero is protective of his children and has a deep bond with them, interestingly enough, their journey mirrors the one the Hero himself took with his own father years before. He is said to be a rightgeous king, well loved by his people and governs fairly. There is something to be said about his courage. Since the age of 6, the Hero was already undertaking monumental quests without wavering, he is unshakable in the face of adversity, which is often commented by NPC's. He is also a fairly intelligent individual, managing to pass the Gothan rite of passage despite it's maze like appearance. He has an uncompromissable sense of justice, helping everyone he comes across during his journey and doing right by them. He often goes through extreme trials and comes out on top, never faltering or wavering in his dedication to find his mother and restore balance to the world, even when it seems things are at their darkest, the Hero will always preservere through sheer strength of character. Story Unlike a majority of Dragon Quest games, which focus on the chosen one destined to strike down evil, Dragon Quest V tells the story of the individual who guides and aids this chosen one, making for a unique experience. The player also has the choice of having the Hero marry and later have children with either Bianca or Nera, or, in the DS remake, Debora. Because of this setup, the game follows the Hero over a period of 20 years, another unique element. The story begins with the Hero aboard a ship, waking from what appeared to be a dream where he is born to a strong king and his queen, though Pankraz, his dad, dimisses it as just a dream. Upon arrival to harbor, the Hero and his father (In the DS version) meet the owner of the ship they were travelling in, Mr.Briscoletti and his daughters Nera and Debora. After disembarking the ship, they make their way to the village of Whealbrook, where the two of them live with Pankraz's assistant, Pancho, after being gone for two years on a quest. Upon arrival they discover that they visitors in the form of Mrs.Withtaker and her daughter Bianca, who came to Whealbrook to find medicine for her sick husband, Whitey. While the adults talk bellow, Bianca takes the Hero upstairs and attempts to read him a story, where she reveals that she used to take care of him when he was a baby. Suddently her mom calls her down as they have to go get the medicine but it appears that the man they sent to go get it as gone missing inside a cave, as such, the young Hero takes matters into his own hands and ventures into the cave and successfuly rescues him all by himself (despite being only 6 years old.) In the morning, Pankraz volunteers to take Bianca and her mother back to their home village in Roundbeck. Upon arrival, Bianca takes the Hero for a tour of the town, where they come across two bullies who are abusing a small Sabercat cub. Bianca tries to stand up for the poor cub but the bullies are not willing to relent unless the two can prove their bravery by entering the Uptaten Towers at night and expelling the ghosts that live there. The duo accept the challenge, since Pankraz accepted Mrs. Withtaker's invitation to stay the night at the inn, so during the night, the sneak out of the inn and make their way into the towers to complete the quest. Upon entering the tower, the two are asked to remove the evil monsters in the tower by the Countess so that the ghost residents can rest peacefuly. After a particularly grueling quest, the two of them manage to expell the monsters, as a reward, the Count and the Countess bestow the duo the Golden Orb, which unbeknownst to them, would be extremely important for the events to come. When the morning comes, word spreads that the Hero and Bianca alone were able to drive away the monsters from the towers despite their young age, the bullies then have no choise but to give the duo the Sabercat cub, which Bianca names for the Hero and then offers it to him as her parents wouldn't allow her to keep it for herself. Pankraz in the meantime has recovered from the cold he had caught from Whitey and as such the two of them are going to return to Whealbrook, but not before Bianca can say her goodbyes to the Hero and asks him to take her on another quest someday when they meet again. When arriving in town again, there appears to be talk of a stranger who has arrived. The stranger highly resembles the Hero only older, when he approaches the young Hero he asks him to see his Golden Orb and after doing so, he instructs the Hero to take care of his father. All over town strange events seem to be taking place with the fact that while it should be spring, it's still as cold as winter. After a bit of searching, the Hero finds that the culprit for the mischief going around town was a Faerie called Honey, who was trying to get people's attention but unfortunatly could not be seen by anyone. She came to this realm in search of a champion who could help her save Faerie Lea, the home of the Faeries. She takes the Hero to said realm to meet the Faerie ruler, Treacle, who asks him to recover their most precious artifact, the Herald of Spring, a flute that can summon the spring time and banish the cold winter that has befallen the land. After defeating the culprit behind the theft of the Herald of Spring, the Hero returns to Treacle who uses it to bring the spring to the human realm. The Treacle then promises him that when he's older, he can return to the Faerie Lea and she will grant him whatever favor he needs of her and after saying his goodbye to Honey he is brought back to his home in Whealbrook. Upon arrival he is informed by Sancho that his father was called to Coburg by the king so the Hero decides to follow him. After stopping for a little father/son bonding, the two of them arrive in the castle and the Hero is given the chance to go explore and meet the prince, Harry. During their first meeting, the little prince's attitude leaves a bad first impression as he is little more then a spoiled brat, ordering the Hero around and acting superior towards him due to his status. It is then then a group of thugs storms the castle through a secret passageway and kidnaps Harry, leaving behind the Hero, Pankraz soon follows after giving them chase to rescue him with the Hero in tow. Upon arriving to the dungeon where Harry was taken, they discover that a child kidnapping ring, where all the members of noble houses are being taken away by Grandmaster Nimzo's minions as to prevent the coming of the Legendary Hero. After rescueing the prince, he once again displays his arrogance and smugness, only to be struck by Pankraz, who teaches him that his demeanour is not correct and that he will only end up pushing everyone away if he keeps following this path, words that Harry takes to heart. However when they are trying to leave the dungeon, Ladja, Grandmaster Nimzo's top servant arrives and cuts off the exit while it's in reach. Ladja quickly strikes down the Hero and Harry along with the Sabercat cub. It is then that Pankraz arrives and displaying his enormous strength is able to quickly dispatch Ladja's underlings without breaking a sweat. But it is then that Ladja grabs the unconscious Hero and threatens to slit his throath should Pankraz not put his weapon down, he complies. Ladja then takes advantage of this and has his minions attacks him viciously, beating him down to his knees. With his last breath and strength, he reaches the Hero (even though he is unconscious) and informs him that his mother is still alive somewhere out there and that to find her, he needs to gather the Zenithian Equipment and the Legendary Hero to rescue her. Ladja then mercilessly cast a Kaboom spell, completly decimating Pankraz, killing him. Following Pankraz's death, the Hero and Harry are sold into slavery and are forced to build a temple for the Order of Zugzwag, a cult that worships Grandmaster Nimzo, where they remain for 10 long years. One certain day, the Hero and Harry witness a woman being whipped mercilessly for getting one of the slave driver's shoes dirty, the two of them jump in to save her and after defending the girl, they get thrown into a jail cell. A guard opens their cell and quietly tells them to follow him, he reveals that he is the brother of Maria, the girl the duo saved earlier, he offers them a chance to escape inside a barrel (as the slaver drivers were using barrels to get rid of the bodies of slaves who would die and as such no one would suspect the barrel to have someone alive in it) as long as they take Maria with them. After drifting for a while, the barrel arrives at the Abbey of the Aboveall, where the party finds a chance to rest, the Hero then awakes after sleeping for 5 days and along with Harry, he witnesses Maria being accepted into the order. The Hero then prepares to go out into the world and find his mother, Harry follows him as he has no direction in life anymore. The party arrives in the town of Fortuna, where they are approached by a fortune teller who reading the Hero's fortune, she tells him that the woman he is looking for (his mother) is still alive and that he has to head north. Doing so they arrive in the ruins of Whealbrook, who has been devasted in the 10 years the Hero has been gone, the two then go the local cave and after exploring it they come across the Zenithian Sword, left there by Pankraz years ago along with a letter, pleading him once more to search for the Legendary Hero and the Zenithian Equipment so that he can rescue his mother, revealing that she has mysterious powers that are coveted by the forces of Nadiria and as such is probably the reason she was taken from them. The Hero himself tries to use the sword, but it drains him of any strenght he had, showing he is not the Legendary Hero. The party then travels to Roundbeck, only to find that Bianca's family no longer owns the inn and that things seem to have taken a turn for the worse in Coburg after Harry went missing, his half brother took up the throne after his father passed away and the queen has been running the town into the ground. As such, Harry pleads to the Hero to return to Coburg to try and sort things out. Arriving in town, the group finds out that queen Dowager has been hiring shady mercenaries to serve as the army, raising taxes to pay for them while making the population suffer while Wilbur (the king and Harry's half brother) is little more then just a puppet to her plans. Infiltrating the castle through a hidden passage, the group finds the queen in a jail cell and after meeting with Wilbur they are tasked with finding a magic mirror that can show the true form of whoever it reflects. So they depart to find the item locked away in a tower, enlisting the help of Maria, they group is able to enter the tower and retrieve the Mirror of Ra and bringing it to Coburg castle they find out that the queen is actually a doppleganger and in actuality a monster. After defeating it, Harry decides to stay behind and help Wilbur rule the land fairly, saying his goodbyes to the Hero after 10 years and advices him to take a ship towards Littlehaven to continue his journey to find his mother. Arriving in Littlehaven, the Hero stops by a pub where he witnesses a farmer from a neighbouring village being haressed by the bar patrons and jumps in to defend him. After doing so, the villager reveals he came to town to find someone that can help his village get rid of the monster that is terrorizing it, so he enlists the help of the Hero to accomplish said feat. Arriving at the cave where the beast is hidden, the Hero fights to reach it only to find out it's a feral Sabercat, using the ribbon Bianca had given the Hero years ago, the Sabercat remembers the scent and it's revealed it's the same Sabercat cub that traveled with the Hero when he was a child, it then gives the Hero Pankraz's sword that he kept all these years. Returning to the village of Hay, the Hero is accused of being the one behind the attacks and is kicked out of the village. The party then arrives in Zoomingdale and after assisting the local professor, the Hero learns the Zoom spell, using it, the Hero returns to Coburg and finds out the Harry and Maria are now married and after a tender momment with Harry, Wilbur informs the Hero that they were able to locate the Zenithian Shield, it is in the ownership of Mr.Briscoletti, who resides in Mostroferatto. Making haste, the Hero arrives in town where he stops a runaways dog belonging to Nera Briscoletti who, unbeknownst to either of them, have met before when they were both children. When he arrives at Briscoletti manor he discovers that all the young men in town are there as well, summoned by Mr.Briscoletti, he is looking for a suitor for his daughter Nera. Debora, the oldest daughter comes downstairs, only to be brushed away by her father, he then reveals that the will only give the Zenithian shield to the man that marries her but to do so, the suitor has to present him with 2 relics, the rings of fire and water which are scattered all over the continent, Nera tries to dissuade the suitors from such a hard task but is taken away by her father regardless. Equipment and Stats He can equip certain swords, boomerangs, whips, staffs, flails, and even the metal king series of equipment. His HP growth is very high, likely to balance out his low defense stat, with all other attributes varying in growth throughout the game. He is the only one in the game capable of using the Royal equipment (Royal Cloak, Shield of Radiance, Sun Crown and the Dragon Staff.) These can be excellent substitutes to the King Metal equipment. Abilities The hero is a very versatile fighter. He also is very good in magic, although, as is the case with most heroes, his spells mainly revolve around healing and support. He can learn Heal, Squelch, Woosh, Buff, Midheal, Peep, Evac, Swoosh, Absorb magic, Fullheal, Zing, Kaswoosh, Zoom and Hocus-Pocus. He has the highest strength stat in the game (closely followed by his son) so he should focus on direct phisical attacks after using a buff spell to increase said attacks for massive damage. 'Trivia' *Even though after the second timeshift the hero is 28, he is still physically 20 because he never aged while he was turned to stone. It is the same for whichever wife the Hero chooses. *Due to a time traveling technicality, this Hero is the only Hero from the series that speaks aloud, in both child and adult form. *The Hero of Dragon Quest V is the only one that is not outright a 'swordmaster', shown to wield a staff in all official art for him, whereas all other heroes are shown with swords. *He is also the only hero in the Zenithian Trilogy who cannot equip the Zenithian Equipment, as his son is the one to do this. *It is worth noting that the naming of the Hero has some bearing in-game, as the start will have his father recommending the name Madason, but will quickly agree with what the mother says which is also the name chosen by the player. Interestingly, if the player chooses the name Madason then the father will recommend Erdrick instead. *As revealed by the in-game dialogue, he seems to have a dry sense of humour or just doesn't understand jokes altogether. *It is never revealed how the Hero learned how to read since as stated by Bianca, at the age of 6 he had no idea how to do so. It could have however happened during the 10 years he spent in slavery. *While he is not the only playable character of royal blood in the Zenithian Trilogy, he is the highest ranked one as he is a King. *When he was turned into a statue, he was sold for the price of 2000 gold coins in an auction. *When travelling through the snowy montain path to Gotha, it's told through in-game dialogue with Nera (if she is chosen as his wife) that his cloak is long enough to envelop the both of them to shield them from the cold. 'Gallery ' * 20shypu.jpg|Artwork for Dragon Quest V (DS) dq5-hero.jpg|Artwork for Dragon Quest V manual DQ5.jpg|Super Famicom artwork: Old and Young Kaswoosh.png|The Hero performing Kaswoosh 800px-MtMagmageddon.png|The Hero and his party on the quest for the Ring of Fire Diggerypokery.png|The Hero and his children in the Old Mines DQV beginning.jpg|Young Hero at the intro of DQV GothaPath.png|The Hero with Nera in the montain path to Gotha Dragon-quest-v-artwork-9.jpg|The Hero with the cast of DQV Eiyu-bianca.jpg|Official artwork from the DQV site with the young Hero and Bianca hero's riteof passage.png|The Hero undertaking the Gothan Riteof Passage Akifumi nakamura-4.jpg|Promotional Artwork drawn by Akira Toriyama DQ-HeroV.JPG|Hero on Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory R cut r04 le dq05 1280.png|The Hero and the Heavenly Brides in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory Viewimage.jpg|The Hero and the other DQ protagonists and his children in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory dqmbrvwii_029.jpg|Hero with the Sabercat in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory mss011ii_th.png|Hero's card in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory S011ii.png|The Hero holding the Golden Orb in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory s015ii_th.png|The Hero wearing the Royal Cloak in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory Mss015ii.png|The Hero with Bianca and their children in Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road Victory ja:主人公 (ドラゴ ンクエストV) Category:Dragon Quest V characters Category:Party members Category:Heroes Category:Kings Category:Royalty